Sean Brecker

CEO, Headspace

It's no big secret that smartphones infuse our lives with ceaseless distractions, bleeps and bloops. One recent study showed they annihilate our focus even when we're not actively using them. But Headspace, a popular meditation app, is doing its best to use the technology for good.

"The irony is not lost that our delivery mechanism is the phone, but you have to go where people are," Headspace CEO Sean Brecker told The Huffington Post in an interview last week.

Headspace is pretty simple: You log on via the app or website, select a guided meditation program and listen to it. It's positioned as exercise for your mind -- you can use its meditation sessions to calm down, reduce your anxiety or improve your relationships. The app costs $12.95 a month, with discounts if you purchase a year or more at once.

The company just closed a substantial financing round, locking in $30 million in new funding. It's planning to increase its offerings to businesses, but it also intends to use resources on greatly expanding the app's offerings to individual users -- and luring new ones in.